Hakeem praises Lee administration for agreeing to hold Chattanooga hearing on Medicaid waiver plan
After Lee's original announcement about his Medicaid waiver request to the Trump administration to get approval for dramatically overhauling the program for 1.4 million low-income Tennesseans, Hakeem, D-
"Within two or three days, we had a commitment to have a meeting in
The public hearings are part of a process required by the federal government when states propose changes in the form of waivers to their Medicaid programs. Lee's original announcement called for hearings in
TennCare provides insurance for low-income children, pregnant mothers, caretakers for children, seniors and the disabled. There were 65,421 Hamilton Countians on the program as of August, according to TennCare figures. Hakeem, who represents much of the city of
The lone Democrat in
Noting that Lee only became governor in January, Hakeem said there has previously been a history of "
The administration also added a hearing in
With the Trump administration pushing Medicaid block grants as a means of saving federal dollars, Republican majority lawmakers this spring passed a law directing Lee to seek the waiver. Advocates for the poor as well as national health care groups and many
The governor says critics are either "misinformed" about what he's trying to do or haven't read through the entire proposal, which includes a provision seeking a 50/50 split on the managed care program's savings over a traditional Medicaid fee-for-service program. It could mean upwards of
Hakeem, who voted against the waiver bill, said it "gives me pause. I'm not convinced." He hopes the hearing will provide an "opportunity not only for myself but for the community at large if there are things that need to be cleared up so far as information or misinformation. This is an opportunity for this to be done in
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